Feels Like Home
by TowMondler
Summary: Just a short little story on alternate version of Chandler quitting his job in Tulsa. It takes place in season nine after Christmas, he didn't quit then. Please review!


I know I know! You all thought that I dropped off the face of the earth. And to be perfectly honest, I think I did for a short time. I had an internship this summer, and just got back from the most amazing vacation ever! Three weeks in Italy with my older brother thanks to my wonderful grandparents. I move back to school in two days. Did you know how much crap it takes to be ready and organized for school? I've been to Target, not even exaggerating, every single day for the past eight days. I freaking love Target, but anyway, I digress. The song is by Bonnie Raitt, and it's one of my favorites. It's a sappy Mondler fic that takes place around season 9 while Chandler was in Tulsa. Something to get me back in the swing of things. Please review and tell me what you think. Thanks!

Disclaimer: As usual, the characters and the song don't belong to me. It sucks.

_Something in your eyes_

_Makes me wanna lose myself_

_Makes me wanna lost myself in your arms_

_There's something in your voice_

_Makes my heart beat fast_

_Hope this feeling lasts_

_The rest of my life_

Chandler snuck into his apartment and let out a sigh that he hadn't realized that he had been holding.

He was home. It was wonderful.

"Chandler?" The sound of a voice startled him and he jumped in the air about three feet.

"Phoebe?" He asked confused. Phoebe sat up on the couch rubbing her eyes and reaching for the lamp.

"You're home," she said smiling slightly. Chandler nodded and waited for Phoebe to answer some of the obvious questions. She failed to and instead there was a moment of silence.

"Are you going to tell me why you are sleeping on my couch or are we going to play charades?" Chandler shrugged out of his jacket. He really didn't want to be talking to Phoebe at midnight. He wanted to slip into his bed and hold his wife tightly to him and forget about Tulsa for the two days that he got to be home and with Monica. But he had to admit to a curiosity as to why Phoebe was sleeping on his couch.

"Oh well," Phoebe yawned. "Monica is sick and you know how she is, she won't admit to it and won't let anyone worry about her."

"She's sick?" Chandler frowned. "But if she wouldn't admit to it, then why are you here?"

"Well, she kind of had to agree that she probably was a little ill when her temperature rose to 104 and she passed out and we had to take her to the emergency room."

"What?" Chandler's voice rose on that one. "Is she okay? Where is she?"

"She should be fine. There was a little bit of a scare there when they couldn't get her temperature down, but they've managed to get it down to 103 now. She has pneumonia and they're keeping her overnight. We tried to call you, but you were your way here. Rachel and Joey are there with her, Ross took Emma home, and I came here to intercept you when you got back." 103. That was a good thing? Chandler felt that turkeys were roasted at 103 degrees, and that a temperature of that high wasn't what he would label a good thing. He felt his heart beating faster than he would have liked and he began taking deep breaths. She was okay.

He should have been there. His mind kept going back to that. He should have been there for her. She was probably scared and sick, and all the while he was flying above the country enjoying a good book and his packet of peanuts. Damn Tulsa. Damn, damn Tulsa.

"Well let's go then," he said grabbing his coat and keys. Phoebe nodded, and if she noticed the urgency in his voice, she didn't respond. Instead, she took her good old time grabbing putting on her shoes and grabbing her own coat.

"She's sleeping Chandler, slow down. She'll be sleeping when we get there. There's no rush." No rush? Was she kidding him with that? His wife was in the hospital. Like hell there was no rush. He wouldn't believe that she was really okay until he saw her. Until he saw her smile and saw her blue eyes light up. Until then, she could be on the brink of death for all that he knew.

"Pheebs," Chandler said slowly and evenly. "I'm trying really hard to be patient here. But you need to tie your shoes a little faster." Phoebe sighed and stood up,

"Fine. I just won't tie them then."

"That's wonderful, fantastic, let's go." Chandler led the way down the stairs and hailed a cab.

_If you knew how lonely my life had been_

_And how long I've been so alone_

_And if you knew that I wanted someone to come along_

_And change my life the way you've done_

_It feels like home to me_

_It feels like I'm all the way back where I come from_

_It feels like home to me_

_It feels like I'm all the way where I belong_

When they got to the hospital, Phoebe gave his hand a squeeze and he followed her to Monica's room where she was sleeping soundly, one hand held tightly by Rachel. The only sounds were the machines and Joey's snoring. Chandler let go of Phoebe's hand and rushed to Monica's side.

"Is she okay?" He asked in a hushed whisper. He knew that Phoebe had told him that she was going to be fine, but he had to hear it from someone else.

"She's going to be fine," Rachel said. "We can take her home tomorrow, we just have to watch her temperature and make sure it doesn't go up. It's down to 102." At least it was going down, Chandler thought to himself. He should have been here.

Why was he keeping this damn job? He hated it. It only took him away from New York and Monica and his friends. Joey had already called twice that week complaining that he didn't remember what Chandler looked like, and while, Chandler knew that Joey was exaggerating, he found himself then sitting down and trying to picture all of his friends in his head. When he couldn't remember what length Rachel's hair was now, he angrily threw a pillow across the room knocking over a lamp in the process, which broke and he had to inevitably pay for.

So not only did he not remember Rachel's hair, but he had to pay for an ugly lamp that they should have been thanking him for breaking. It was awful. He didn't want to do it anymore.

"Good," Chandler said in response to Rachel. "Hey, you look exhausted, why don't you go home to Ross and Emma?" Rachel shrugged and then looked sheepish.

"I kind of want to stay here with her, I mean, if you don't mind. I've been with her since we brought her in and I promised that I wouldn't leave her. Of course, she wouldn't admit that she was scared, but I could see that she was, and it made me feel better, as much as it helped her." Rachel shrugged again. "So if you don't mind?"

"Not at all," Chandler said taking the other seat. "She's not exactly conversational right now." He motioned to his peacefully sleeping wife with a grin.

"Aren't you exhausted after your flight?" Rachel asked. Chandler failed to suppress a yawn and admitted to the fact that he was a little tired. "A little?"

"All right, all I wanted when I got home from the airport was to crawl into bed and sleep," he finally told her. "Aren't you tired?"

"Yeah, I guess we should get comfortable huh?" Chandler nodded and struggled to find a comfortable position in the chair.

"These chairs are awful," Rachel spoke up after a few minutes.

"Yeah," Chandler agreed. He sighed and sat up again. "Kind of makes you a little bit jealous of my wife over there." Rachel laughed and nodded.

"A little bit," she replied. Chandler twisted his wedding ring around his finger.

"I think I'm going to quit my job," he finally said speaking up.

"Really?" Rachel wasn't exactly surprised. He hated his job, and with Monica getting sick and him not being there for her, she was guessing that it was going to be the last straw.

"I can't do it anymore, I hate it. I want a job that I love. Like you, or Mon. And...I can't leave her anymore, Rach. It's getting harder and harder to get on the plane to Tulsa. To be perfectly honest, I almost turned around on the way to the airport the last time."

"Then quit," Rachel said quietly.

"But...Mon wants to have a baby, and we can't really afford to do so on just her salary, especially since she'll have to take a maternity leave."

"Chandler, people have babies they can't afford every day. You'll figure something out, you always do. It will be hard, but it will be worth it. She's going to understand. She'll be happy that you're coming home. She's been miserable without you."

"She didn't go out and find herself a new boyfriend?" Rachel laughed heartily.

"No. She didn't."

"Well, that's good news at least," he said grinning. "You're sure she's going to be okay with me quitting?"

"Well, you know Monica, she's going to pissed at first. She might even throw something, but she'll come around. You'll be home. And that's all that she's even going to think about. You know her, Chandler, she'll support you no matter what." Chandler nodded and leaned down and dropped a kiss on his wife's forehead, cringing only slightly at how hot her skin was.

"Yeah," he said smiling. "I know her."

_A window breaks, down a long, dark street_

_And a siren wails in the night_

_But I'm alright, cause I have you here with me_

_And I can almost see through the dark there is light_

_If you knew how much this moment means to me_

_And how long I've waited for your touch_

_And if you knew how happy you are making me_

_I never thought that I'd love anyone so much_

Monica woke with a start and glanced around confused at her surroundings. Chandler was asleep on a chair on one side of her, and Rachel was fast asleep on the other side of her. She giggled when she noticed that Chandler was drooling, a little wet spot had formed on his shirt. Her head was pounding, but she felt a thousand times better than she had the day before when she was insisting to Rachel that she was fine, but in the middle of her speech, she had passed out.

It kind of ruined what she had been going for.

She realized that Chandler's hand was in her own, and she ran a finger over his knuckles and his wedding ring. He was home for the weekend. He hadn't been able to come home the weekend before and she had missed him terribly.

But here he was now. Sitting, drooling, next to her.

"Chandler?" She whispered.

"Monica?" He blinked a few times, and turned his head and focused on her, his face breaking into a smile. "Hey, you, how are you feeling?"

"Better?"

"Mon, I mean really how are you feeling, none of this, I'm not really sick Chandler."

"I'm feeling much better," she assured him, and when he gave her a disbelieving look, she accentuated it with a, "Really."

"Mon?" Rachel stirred and the blanket that Chandler had gotten from the nurses fell off of her. "You okay?"

"Better than I was, I wouldn't go with okay yet," she answered. "Thank you for taking me here, and staying with me."

"I promised I would, didn't I?" Rachel grinned at her best friend. "I should go relieve Ross of baby duty, and let him know that you're all right."

"Thanks Rach," Chandler said. "For the talk last night."

"No problem," Rachel yawned and then leaned down and kissed the top of Monica's head. "I'll be back later to check on you."

"Okay," Monica nodded. Rachel slipped out of the hospital room. "What did you two talk about?"

"Well," Chandler shifted nervously. "About me quitting my job."

"You want to quit your job?" To his surprise, she didn't seem angry at all.

"Yes."

"Then quit."

"But the baby?"

"We'll figure it out," she told him.

"Mon?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm not exactly sure why you're taking this so easily, maybe it's the medicine talking, or maybe it's because I haven't seen you in a few weeks, but I have to tell you, that I love you for it." She grinned at him.

"I love you too," she whispered hugging him. They were quiet for a minute, holding on to one another, when she spoke up again.

"This means Wendy is history right?" Chandler laughed loudly.

"Wendy who?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Good answer."

_It feels like home to me, _

_It feels like home to me_

_It feels like I'm all the way back where I come from_

_It feels like home to me_

_It feels like I'm all the way back where I belong_

I think it's just going to be this one chapter, and like I said, it was just so that I could get my feet wet. I hope that you enjoyed it and please, please review! Because maybe that will make me want to write faster? I'm not above threatening.


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